Gotham Academy, Bats, and so much more
by Supernerdette
Summary: Basically a story about Dick/Robin, Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, and the mayhem that happens at Gotham Academy. May feature Robin's identity being found out in future chapters. Artemis arrives and is confused by everything, least of all the freshman in her class that looks a bit like... Robin? K plus but may change in later chapters
1. Chapter 1

**Gotham Academy, Bats, and a whole lot more.**

**Welcome to my new story! It's gonna be a long (hopefully) story about Robin/Dick's time at Gotham Academy, his friend (ship) with Babs (Batgirl), random stuff with bullies, and him trolling a certain archer that goes to his school too. I know that some of the stuff I write he probably wouldn't do because of him protecting his secret identity, but I'll include it anyway because it's probably cool. If you've read Robin's Skills, you'll probably like this too. **

Dick Grayson was so not feeling the aster. He'd been up until about 3am in the morning chasing Poison Ivy around Gotham City, where she'd been growing a series of poisonous flowers that would turn anyone who touched them into a dandelion. _Then_ he'd had to finish his paper about the structure of an atom, and therefore he had had no more than three and a half hours of sleep.

He'd then hurriedly apologised to Alfred and got in the car, to be dropped off at school. It had been a relief when he'd met Babs (Barbara Gordon) at the gates. She, being Batgirl, seemed to sympathize with how he felt, though because she rarely worked side-by-side with the Batman, couldn't really understand.

"…And then he goes and says – 'Work harder next time!' – I freakin' got kidnapped by the J-" The redhead said, as they walked up to the school's main building. Dick cut her off, giving her a mild version of the Batglare.

"_Babs!_" He said, "We're in _public_ here. How was your time with 'Uncle J'?" She scowled. He (the joker) always tried to get them to call him 'Uncle J'. She agreed with him, though, one wrong word and their identities could be out of the bag for good.

"Oh, it wasn't too bad," She explained, "His cooking is awful though." She said, conveying the message that he'd used (or tried to) the laughing gas.

"Are you okay," He questioned, worried. "Food poisoning's never fun." He was worried about her, and not just because she was a _Bat_. She was pretty much his only friend outside of the team, and he'd hate to be a loner again. **(Yeah, I ship Dick/Babs, but it might not be in this story.)**

"Oh, it's okay, I got something for it pretty quickly." That was her was of reassuring him she'd had the antidote in time. He sighed in relief, and then yawned loudly. They were at their first class now; they had nearly all their classes together, even though Babs was a year and a half older, because Dick had been moved up in almost all _his_ classes because he was so smart.

"French first," Babs said, grinning. She knew he could speak most foreign languages fluently, and pretending not to was _such_ a bore. She herself wasn't bad and was almost fluent in French, fluent in German, and learning Italian and Spanish. She pushed open the door and sat down, Dick sitting next to her, as usual. A minute later, the bell rang. She grinned, _perfect timing. _It wasn't much fun, getting to every lesson early, but it helped to perfect Dick's'Nerd Look', and she was happy to go along with it.

Within five minutes, everyone was in the classroom, including the teacher, Madame Darlington. Her name didn't suit her much, she was absolutely _horrible_. She looked quite average, but many a time she'd mutter curses and insults to the class, which would make Dick laugh no end.

About halfway through the lesson (which was in fact about conjugating irregular verbs) Barbara noticed a weight on her arm. Dick had fallen asleep on his book, leaning on her arm slightly. It was kind of cute, she thought, but he'd be in trouble if the teacher found out. She tried to shake him awake, but spotted Madame Darlington stalking down the aisle towards them. He'd _just_ woken up when she shouted at him.

"Que faites-vous endormi dans ma classe que vous petit garçon pathétique. Je parie que vous ne pouvez pas comprendre un mot de ce que je dis, tu es si mauvais à tout!" She yelled_. (WHAT are you doing asleep in my class you pathetic little boy. I bet you can't understand a WORD I am saying, you're so bad at EVERYTHING!)_ Slowly, Robin grinned. Without missing a beat, he responded just as angrily.

"En fait, je comprends beaucoup plus que vous pensez que je fais, et je vous suggère d'aller voir un conseiller pour les questions de colère." He said, smirking. _(Actually, I understand a lot more than you think i do, and i suggest you go see a counsellor for those anger issues.)_ Babs stifled a giggle. Their teacher stared at him and then stalked out of the classroom.

There was uproar. Everyone was shouting, throwing things, and wanting to know what exactly he said to the horrible teacher.

"Dick, that was stupid," Barbara told him, "Identity protection, ring a bell?" She asked. He just smirked back at her.

"Well…She deserved it. She said…some pretty unpleasant things." He replied.

"Aw, dude! What did you say?" asked a short, freckly, blond kid. Dick was fairly sure his name was Jonathan, but wasn't certain.

"I, er…" He started, "Gave her a taste of her own medicine, so to speak."

"AWESOME!"

"Do you think she'll come back?" Babs asked. Dick shrugged.

Suddenly the door burst open to reveal a weedy-looking supply teacher. For the rest of the lesson, everyone pretty much ignored them and chatted. Or threw paper planes. Or threw each other. One guy got thrown into the whiteboard (interactive whiteboard) and left a dent in it.

Dick and Babs just chatted to each other, but in French, so nobody would understand them.

"_So how was your time with 'Uncle J'?" _He asked her, concerned. She rolled her eyes and replied in English.

"Not too bad. The 'bad cooking' wasn't much fun, but I had some 'medicine' in my belt."

They talked a bit more, before their next lesson, which was, in fact, gym. Dick knew he shouldn't try very hard, because of his identity thing, but he was _itching_ to exercise, to stretch and turn. They were doing a gymnastics unit this term, much to the disappointment of (most of) the boys. They thought gymnastics was way too girly for macho types like them. Dick said goodbye to Babs and headed for the boys' changing room. He changed into his gymnastics gear, which consisted of a leotard with sleeves, and shorts, quickly. His reason for doing so (getting changed quickly) was that it wouldn't draw attention to the muscles on his arms and abs that were clearly _not_ Richard-Grayson-Nerd standard. Of course, that stereotype would be blown out of the water in the lesson, but he still didn't want to draw unnecessary attention to himself. It was no secret that he was brought up in a circus and was very flexible, but still.

He heard a whistle, and hurried out of the changing rooms into the gym. His eyes widened, there was gymnastics equipment everywhere. In the middle of the room was a set of rings hanging from a metal frame, and dotted around were mats for floor work, parallel bars, a pommel horse, and a beam.

Dave, the 'typical bullying jock' of the class, stepped up the small ladder to the rings. He kicked the ladder away, before trying to swing on them. Dick winced as he flopped around; it was pitiful, like watching someone kick a puppy. He had to wait until about _eleven_ more people had tried (and failed) at the rings before he could have a go.

The coach took one look at him and laughed.

"Sorry, sonny, but I don't think you'll have the upper body strength for this one." He said. Dave and his fellow jocks laughed, but Dick stood his ground.

"Try me." Was all he said. He stepped up the ladder and hung from the bars. He stayed there for almost a minute, wowing everyone in the room.

"Okay, can you get down now? It's clear that's all you can d-"

The coach was cut off by Dick laughing. It was actually Robin's laugh, but he didn't think anyone'd notice. In one fluid movement he twisted his body into a handstand, so that his face faced the ground. A collective gasp went up from the group, which was now much bigger. Even the coaches on the other equipment had stopped to look at him. He (still in a handstand) pulled his legs up into a right angle parallel to the ground. Dick then swung back the right way up, before tucking his legs up and swinging three full rotations. He then slowly moved his legs up to his shoulders, effectively making himself a human pretzel. Everyone looked at him in shock, this scrawny thirteen-year-old on the rings.

Suddenly he flung himself off the rings, flipped twice, and landed perfectly, hands pointing up to the sky.

They just gawped at him. From the other side of the huge gym room, where the girls were doing gymnastics too, Babs winked at him.

**Wahoo! Next up, (probably) Artemis is here! I don't wanna do this wrong, so any advice is appreciated, as are all reviews. **

**Thanks**

**Violet out. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Yeah, I'm updating **_**this**_** story before Robin's Skills. If you have a problem with that, then I'm sorry, but I'm not an author-robot. I think Artemis gets introduced in this chapter. I'm gonna have so much fun writing this! Also, I know there is a bit on this in the YJ show, but I decided to make my own up instead. And in this one, Babs is assigned to be Artemis's mentor instead of Bette. **

Dick/Robin was very confused. In the mountain, a few days ago, he'd overheard Artemis chatting to Black Canary about a scholarship deal, specifically a Wayne Foundation Scholarship, to Gotham Academy, no less. So Robin did the natural thing, and asked Batman. Well, he asked Bruce Wayne instead, seeing as Batman wasn't available.

He sat down at the breakfast bar in the kitchen (they have a massive table but they only use it for posh people who come to tea), and waited for his guardian to attend. A couple of minutes later, a dishevelled Bruce Wayne arrived and started eating his breakfast, which was a bowl of muesli. His suit was rumpled, his hair was messy, and his tie was crooked.

"Bruce?" He asked, "Why is Artemis coming to my school?" This nearly made the billionaire choke on some cereal.

"I thought you wouldn't notice…" He said guiltily. Dick just rolled his eyes.

"Trained by _you_, remember?" He answered. Bruce grumbled, before answering.

"She's smart, and she deserves a chance. The official reason is a Gymnastics Scholarship." Dick was surprised his foster father actually answered.

"Ok, that makes sense. Better get going, I hear there's a new kid today!" He winked before swinging his bag onto his shoulder and leaving.

Artemis groaned and hit her alarm clock. It started beeping even louder. She grumbled, swinging her legs out of bed and grabbing her uniform. She stumbled over to the bathroom, still not completely awake, and undressed and took a shower. The water was tepid, as usual. They never really got much hot water, because they often struggled to pay the bills. Climbing out of the shower, she hastily dried off and got into her new _Gotham Academy_ uniform, which consisted of a shirt, blazer, and skirt. Artemis _hated_ wearing skirts; you couldn't run, flip, or fight wearing one.

Quickly, she scarfed down a banana and grabbed a muesli bar from the cupboard. She kissed her mum goodbye before heading out the door in the direction of the school.

On the way to school, Artemis encountered several groups of _not-so-nice_ girls. The first lot looked bright orange (Heh, fake tan overdose), and had eye make-up that made them look like owls. They jeered at her because she (apparently) wasn't wearing the right shoes. The second lot looked a bit friendlier, but all had bright red lipstick on and were carrying the latest designer bags, with perfect hair and nails. _They_ made fun of her for being a 'Scholarship Girl'. _How_ they could tell that from looking at her, she had no idea.

Dick had just got into the school gates when he was caught in a flying-tackle hug from Babs. He laughed.

"Good to see you, too!" She said, indignantly. Quickly, he told her about Artemis coming to the school, but he forgot to describe her.

"Is she about my height?"

"Yep."

"East Asian?"

"Yep, half, anyway."

"Really long, blonde hair in a ponytail?"

"Yep, wait, how do you kno-?"

"She's over there," Barbara said, gesturing to a corner of the yard inside the gates. She was right. Artemis was over there, surrounded by snobby girls, and she looked like she was ready to kill someone. Without a word, they speed-walked over to her.

"Charity case," Someone said,

"Freak!"

"Just go home," Another voice taunted. Artemis wilted like a flower. She was okay with the other name-calling, but when someone made fun of her race… Well, they should be glad the _other_ Artemis wasn't here.

Dick and Babs shouldered their way through the crowd, which wasn't hard, because as soon as they (accidentally on purpose) brushed against one of their designer handbags, the girls squealed and scattered, leaving a fuming Artemis in their wake.

"Hey." Dick said. Artemis growled, and he took a step back. Babs smirked at him.

"Um, hi, I'm Barbara, "She said,

"Babs" Dick interrupted, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"I'm Babs _or_ Barbara, and this is Dick. You're the new girl, right?" Artemis was about to introduce herself when Dick said it for her.

"You're Artemis Crock." He said, which creeped her out. Babs elbowed him in the ribs.

"Wanna swap schedules?" She did, and they checked all their lessons.

"Sweet!" Dick said, "We have everything together except science!" Artemis gave Babs a confused look.

"We'd better get going, it's Algebra first, and that's in the E block." With that, the strange trio set off. Before long, they were stopped by a group of five or six vicious looking bullies.

"Oh look, the circus freak and the charity case have got a new friend," The leader, Malcolm, drawled, "I wonder who this pretty little thing is…" He leered at Artemis.

Malcolm was the captain of the wrestling team, and so was quite well built. Of course, Batgirl, Robin, or Artemis wouldn't've broken a sweat taking him down, but in civilian identities they couldn't.

"I'd wrestle _her_ any day," He smirked at his cronies. Artemis tossed her head.

"Okay," She said, shocking everyone, "You. Me. Arm wrestling, that wall, now." She pointed to a nearby wall, and stood next to it. Dick snickered; this guy didn't have a clue what he was getting into. Confused, Malcolm followed, his gang of acne-covered 'friends' traipsing behind him. Artemis put her elbow on the wall, and he copied her. Shuddering in disgust, she grabbed his hand.

"Three," Dick announced dramatically, "Two, one, GO!"

Smirking, Malcolm pushed his hand hard against Artemis's, expecting hers to slam down into the wall. It didn't. He looked at it uncomprehendingly, before using even more force to try and win. Strong though he was, Artemis had a lot of upper body strength from using her bow, and was now starting to use it. She pushed his hand closer to the wall. Suddenly, with one quick move, she slammed his hand down, hard. Barbara winced as she heard a crack.

Bewildered and hurt, Malcolm quickly walked off with his gang of cronies, and a fractured knuckle. Artemis and Babs high-fived, and Dick just smirked.

The bell rang, and they quickly headed to Algebra. When they got there, the teacher was angry because they were late.

"WHAT were you doing? WHY are you late? I should give you three detentions!" She yelled. This teacher was called Miss Crow, and she looked a lot like her namesake, with greasy black hair, beady eyes, and a rather pointy nose.

Dick looked at her with his best puppy-dog eyes. "It won't happen again, pwomise." He lisped slightly to add to the effect. Grumbling, the teacher nodded and they took the only three seats left, which were all next to each other at the back. Babs smiled at him, and mouthed something too.

"That darn lisp and puppy-dog eyes work every time!" She whispered. Dick just smirked.

**Woo! Another chapter! Taking requests for what happens next. **

**Review!**

**-V**


	3. Chapter 3

**Gotham Academy, Bats, and so much more Chapter 3.**

**Wahoo! I'm on a bit of an update-roll at the moment-I've added a new chapter to **_**something**_** every single day this week. Therefore, I am feeling pretty stressed out. Enough with that, though, and let's get on to the story. I'm going with the timing at school just like my school, which is- Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Break, Lesson 3, Lesson 4, Lunch, Lesson 5, and Tutoring. I might skip out on a few lessons because, let's face it, it's gonna be a bit boring to write. And I'm sorry if Artemis is a bit OOC, but remember she's in her civilian ID, so she's gonna be different. Also, I'm not introducing Dick/Babs yet, but am featuring Protective!Dick. Onwards! - Violet Out.**

Algebra passed quickly for Dick, because he could do it easily already. Babs and Artemis struggled a bit though. Dick was sitting back in his seat, drinking from his water bottle he always took to class with him. He'd finished the main sheet, and the two extension sheets, so Miss Crow had run out of work for him to do.

Babs leant over him, trying to copy his workings out. He smirked and turned over the page. She pulled a face at him. Artemis snickered, and they turned to look at her.

"Sorry, but you two are so _cute_ together!" She whispered. Dick turned pale, and Barbara made a sound like a cat coughing up a hairball. Miss Crow noticed this, and glared at her.

"Are you alright, Gordon?" She cringed at the use of her surname.

"Y-yes, just- can I go get some water?" She coughed. The teacher nodded, and Babs left the room. Dick glared at Artemis. The girl flinched away at his intensive stare, before thinking of a question.

"Why are you in this class? You can't be more than twelve, and everyone else here is at least fifteen."

Dick squeaked indignantly.

"Ex_cuse_ me, I am thirteen for your information, and I'm in this class because that's just how I roll." He replied. At this moment, Babs came back into the room and took her seat next to him. She rolled her eyes.

"What he _means_ to say is, he's in this class because he got moved up **(I don't know how many) **grades, because he's a total nerd." She explained. Dick frowned at her. She smirked back. Artemis smiled again.

The bell rang, and everyone packed their stuff away. The next lesson was science, which passed easily, and then breaktime/recess.

"Wanna hang out with us?" Barbara asked Artemis. She shrugged.

"Yeah, why not?" She replied. And so, the trio formed. Barbara, Artemis, and Dick went over to a wall in the corner that was at least two and a half meters high. Nimbly, Dick leaped up and pulled himself on top of the wall, before taking Babs and Artemis's schoolbags off them so they could climb up. Dick leant down and grabbed Babs' hand, before helping her up. Artemis stared at the tow open-mouthed.

"Come on," The redhead said, reaching down a hand. Dick did the same.

"Er…how exactly am I meant to get up there?" She asked, confused.

"Like _this_," He replied, leaning down and grabbing her hand, pulling her up. Barbara did the same, and Artemis let out an undignified squeal as she scrambled up the wall. Finally, she reached the top, and promptly toppled over the other side into a flowerbed.

Laughing, Dick grabbed his phone and started taking pictures. A frustrated and bewildered Artemis climbed out of the flowerbed and back onto the wall, dusting the soil off her blazer. She glared at him angrily, but you could see she saw the funny side of it.

"So, what do we do now?" She asked. Dick leaned backwards slightly and grabbed their schoolbags, handing each one to its recipient.

"You hear that, Babs? _What do we do now? _She asks." Dick said again. Barbara chuckled from her position beside him on the wall. She dug into her backpack and pulled out some crisps and sweets. Artemis took the hint, and retrieved her battered lunchbox from the depths of her shoulder bag, before pulling out a pack of crisps and a chocolate bar. Dick looked at their snacks mournfully and took out an apple. Babs started laughing at the longing expressed on his face.

"Here," She offered the pack of sweets to him.

"Can't. You shouldn't really, either." He responded, "Don't wanna end up putting on weight, gotta be careful."

"About what? Why can't you eat junk food?" Artemis asked. Dick gulped; he'd forgotten she was there.

"Uh, we can't put on weight because of our training-" Babs said before realising her mistake. She clapped a hand to her mouth, shocked she'd let something that important slip. Artemis looked at her questioningly.

"Training? What kind and what for?" She asked. Barbara looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a car, expression shocked and perfectly still. She glanced at Dick desperately, silently pleading for help.

"Mainly flexibility training," Dick explained casually, "For our gymnastics. We go to a club, and we didn't really want people to know, because we don't want to give them something else to make fun of us for." The lie slipped through his lips easily. He was used to little lies by now. The problem was, little lies led to bigger, less believable lies. For example, when he'd had an encounter with the Joker which finished in four broken ribs and a (horribly) bruised neck, he'd had to use the excuse of falling down the stairs, which didn't explain the vast extent of his injuries very well.

"Something _else_ to make fun of you for?" Artemis asked, "What could people make fun of _you_ for?" She didn't understand; this kid had everything you could ask for, advanced classes, and he wasn't on a scholarship. What would people make fun of him for?

Babs looked at him apologetically. He flinched and his eyes darkened, but he didn't look away.

"I'm Dick Grayson." Was all he said.

Artemis thought about it for a second; she was sure she'd heard the name _Grayson_ before, but where? She thought for another minute before realising where she'd seen it. It'd been in a newspaper article: _The fall of the Flying Graysons_. So it _was_ him. She was about to say something, when Dick and Barbara grabbed their bags and leapt of the wall in perfect synchronisation. The bell rang for third lesson, which was Literature/English, and she ungainly scrambled down the wall and caught up with them. Dick was holding onto Barbara's hand for comfort, as he seemed a little…off. She thought this little detail was cute, but evidently Malcolm and his gang, from earlier, didn't.

"Aw, look, the circus freak and the charity case are together!" He sneered. Babs glared at them, **(The bat-glare)** and tugged the small boy away. They walked back inside, and Artemis followed a distance away as they wandered down the labyrinth of corridors to the English department. Just before they walked into classroom 7B, he turned back and hugged Babs, before detaching himself and heading into the classroom.

"Don't take it personally," Barbara sighed to Artemis, who was shocked she'd noticed her presence. "Just…don't mention it around him, or at all." She instructed, before they joined Dick in the classroom. He sat alone at a desk next to the door, looking miserable. Barbara knew why.

English/Literature was his worst subject. Because English was his third language **(Romani, Romanian), **he'd always had a hard time grasping the different rules and words. He always messed around with prefixes and opposites (i.e. aster), which really annoyed Mr Bartin, his English teacher. Despite being ESL, he was placed in an advanced English class as well, which _really_ didn't help.

About halfway through the lesson, Dick put his head on the desk, tired and confused. They were studying the formation of adverbs when accompanying regular verbs. Barbara looked over at him sympathetically as he groaned in frustration. Mr Bartin walked over to Dick, concerned. He liked Mr Bartin; in fact he was his favourite teacher, and also his form tutor. He understood that Dick found English a hard lesson, and gave him some leeway on homework.

"Dick, are you okay?" He asked. Most of the teachers called him Richard instead of Dick; it was like they couldn't understand or think of him as a person, just an object instead. He looked up.

"I'm fine sir, just…" He gestured to his English book helplessly. Mr Bartin nodded, and spoke quietly so that the other students wouldn't hear him.

"It's okay, we can work on it in tutor time today." Dick relaxed, and the lesson continued.

**Another chapter done! I'm like a machine here! Woo!**

**Review please.**

**-Violet Out. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Gotham Academy, Bats, and more, chapter 4.**

**Babs, Dick, and Artemis have the same homeroom/tutor time, with Mr Bartin.**

**This is after another few lessons when they're in homeroom. I'm **_**not**_** including ****Traught**** pairing here, I know several of you asked for it, but sorry, this is only ever (if I include a pairing) going to be Dibs. (Dick/Babs.)**

**And I wanted to have Mr Bartin in here because so many people make **_**all **_**the teachers demonic; I wanted to show that's not true. Mr Bartin is based on a male version of **_**my**_** form tutor at school, that's why he's so nice. **

Mr Bartin was worried about Dick. He, like most of the other teachers, knew his story and background. And he really didn't know why fate had chosen to do that to an innocent young boy of eight. But Mr Bartin also knew he was Robin. He didn't tell anyone-that would be betraying the boy's trust. Besides, he knew Dick was fully capable, and he knew he frequently had to hold himself back in PE lessons, so not to appear out of the ordinary. But out of the ordinary was what Dick/Robin was, and the way he realised that the boy was Robin was no exception.

_He'd been walking with Dick out to the car park; where Alfred parked his Mercedes and where he himself parked his small car. (Make one up for the imagination.) He was a little on edge-he'd received several menacing notes made out of newspaper articles during the day, but he hadn't yet told anyone, thinking it could just be a student's prank. He was talking with the boy about words and prefixes, when suddenly he wasn't there anymore. Suddenly, a gunshot flew past his head; he turned and saw a mobster on the roof of the science building. He aimed again, and Bartin closed his eyes, knowing he wouldn't miss. _

_He heard a strange squealing sound, and he opened his eyes to see Robin on the roof, fighting the mobster. Within ten seconds he'd taken the bigger, older man down and was tying him up. He then left the man bound and gagged on the roof and leapt down, a drop of thirty feet or more. He landed catlike, and then walked up to him. He shrank away from the vigilante, before all the puzzle pieces clicked together and he gasped._

"_D?" he'd asked. _**Mr Bartin calls Dick 'D' or 'Dee' for short.**_ The boy just put a finger to his lips in a 'Shh' gesture before vanishing. _

He remembered all that, then sighed and waited, they would come to homeroom in about ten minutes, and he could speak to him then. He really was worried about the boy-most pupils (and staff) just thought of him as a spoilt rich kid who had everything, but he knew Dick would trade all the money in the world to have his family back.

Dick was walking to homeroom with Babs and Artemis. He knew she could tell he was out of it, and she knew he knew that. This meant apologizing for walking off was a lot more awkward. Barbara coughed; this was awkward for her too.

"Um, Artemis?" He started. She inclined her head, gesturing for him to continue. "I'm sorry about me storming off earlier, I just…" He looked at her wordlessly, and Artemis's expression softened. She used to think Dick Grayson was just another poncy rich kid whenever she saw him on TV with Bruce Wayne. His apology reminded her that he was a kid too, and a kid that needed friends. Her heart twinged when she realised he was truly sorry, and seemed to be scared of losing a friend so quickly. He'd only had one real friend, she thought, and that was Barbara. Despite all the kids who'd suck up to him to get their pictures in the paper, or a ride in a limousine, Babs didn't care about the money side of it at all – she was his friend because she liked his personality and him, not because she wanted a freebie.

"It's okay," She replied softly, "I think _I_ would've done the same." And she expects him to be surprised at this new titbit of information, yet _she_'s the one surprised when he nods knowingly.

"Yes, I'm sure…I'm sure you would, in your current situation." He says, and then she's about to panic because _he can't know, he can't know, he can't know her father is Sportsmaster and her sister is Cheshire. The only people who know are Batman, GA, Canary, and a couple more from the League._ Even Robin doesn't know. But he just nods again, and she passes it of as him being a jerk.

Babs laughs at him **(She knows too)** as they go into classroom D6 for homeroom and he trips over the (non-existent) door ledge. He flies through the air, heading towards his seat at the front of the class. And he lands perfectly, _too_ perfectly, Babs thinks, to be Dick Grayson. But he just laughs it off, and as Artemis thinks about his landing, and his laugh, she's got two puzzle pieces to work with. But she can't put the picture together yet, she hasn't got enough.

Babs sits next to him on one side, and Artemis sits next to her, so they're almost making a Barbara sandwich between them. She looks at Dick concernedly, and he nods sadly back to her, still smiling. Artemis is confused until he pulls out the work they were doing in English/Literature, and glares at it fiercely. It's about the formation of adverbs accompanied by regular and irregular verbs, and she and Babs didn't have any problems with it, so why did he? She knew he was really smart, so what was he doing frustrated over a normal piece of work?

He gets a pen out of his bag, a fountain pen that's probably worth more than Artemis' whole uniform, bag and shoes, and starts to work.

He'd struggled through about two lines of the work when Mr Bartin notices him. He beckons Dick forward, and he grumbled something like 'what did I do now?' and packs away his book.

"No, you can bring that with you," The teacher says, his eyes sparkling. The younger male perked up and grabbed his workbook, before he shrugged at Babs and walked to the desk.

"Take a seat, D." He said, and Dick smiles at the pet name.

**(Sorry about the mix up with past/present tenses here, I just got confused…)**

He pulled out a chair and sat down next to his tutor/teacher/whatever.

"What's up?" Mr Bartin asked him. He frowned back at him.

"Nothing…just- the worksheet." He explained, and Mr Bartin sighed again. He knew Dick had a hard time with English; he just never asked for help or showed it.

Dick pulled out a small eraser from his pocket, which was half shredded already.

"Lots of mistakes?" Bartin grinned, before genuinely smiling at the boy. He pulled the worksheet out of his book, frowning at it. He started to write, before growling and then rubbing it out angrily.

"What's the matter?" Asked Bartin. When he got no answer, he looked over at the worksheet. There were hundreds of eraser marks on it, and the paper was so thin (from him rubbing it out) that it was about to break. He could faintly see the impressions of words in Spanish, what he thinks is Japanese, French, and Italian. The most recent impression was in Romani. **(I know Romani's not really a written language, but oh well.) **

"I can't even keep writing in English!" Dick hissed angrily, scrubbing out his latest attempt, which was in mandarin Chinese. Mr Bartin thought for a second, before tugging the worksheet out of his grasp.

"Is anything bothering you, D?" He asked, "It's just… maybe you're thinking about something else."

Dick smiled wanly at him. "Just a bit too much on my plate at the moment." He answered, before frowning again.

"Home, school, or…?" Mr Bartin asked again. Dick's silence is enough as an answer. "Ok, I won't ask any questions about it, but… take it easy, ok?"

"No promises," Dick grins back at him, before turning back to his work, grabbing the worksheet and eagerly scribbling on it, before groaning. It was French, again. He was about to rub it out, when Mr Bartin put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, Google Translate wasn't meant for nothing." Dick started laughing.

"It won't give you the right translation."

"Well then, I can ask Miss Darlington, can't I?" He then left the room with his homework, and only five minutes later, Dick got an A plus for his homework, and Mr Bartin was being interrogated by said French teacher over who'd written in French so well.

The bell rang, and Dick thanked his form tutor sincerely for his help, and bounded out of the room after Babs and Artemis.

**Aww! I like nice teachers! **

**Next chapter, I need ideas urgently!**

**Review please!**

**-Violet Out.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Gotham Academy, Bats, and so much more chapter 5.**

**I'm sorry I haven't updated for a while; I've mainly been working on my PJO/Harry Potter xover. Which is totally great, btw. Thanks for the (re)views peeps. I'm writing what Wayne Manor is like from my imagination so- if ya don't like it, then just deal with it. Do you think I should put Tim or Jason in this one? **

**SlytherinSnake- I have purposely put more dialogue in here, although I don't understand the other stuff you said.  
**_**White Bishop-**_** I haven't studied the play so I kinda have no idea what you're on about. But thanks anyway. Okay. Also, this chapter is set about three days after the last one. (Previous)**

Dick smiled as he raced out of homeroom and down a narrow corridor, skidding to a halt at the end. He really liked Mr Bartin; he was the sort of person you knew you could trust. However, he never told him anything about Robin even though he did know his secret-who knew who would try and interrogate it out of him if he was captured and tortured. So he protected his favourite teacher by staying quiet.

Despite the risks to his identity, Bruce had allowed him to invite Artemis and Barbara over to work on their science project. The project was a simple one about different liquids being used to feed plants; Dick had done this at the start of every school year. Nonetheless, he felt a strange sort of enthusiasm about getting to spend time with his (sort of) new friend.

Artemis grumbled as she slowly walked out of the door behind Barbara and Malcolm from earlier, whose hand was bandaged heavily. Barbara broke into a jog and then flat out sprinted down the narrow hallway in pursuit of her best friend.

"Dick, get back here you little troll!" She hollered, earning herself strange looks from passers-by. She shrugged them off and kept going. Artemis chuckled at her new friend's antics before speed-walking after her.

When she turned the corner, however, she saw Babs looking around grumpily and no Richard Grayson whatsoever. Rolling her eyes, she turned to the redhead and spoke.

"Let's go. He'll catch us up later. " Barbara frowned at her.

"No. He's here, he's just hiding."

"Why-?" Artemis asked, confused.

"We have this kinda on-going game of hide and seek. It's cool, though, because I know where he'll be. He usually hides…" She thought for a bit, "Over _here._"

Having said that, she stalked over to the door of one of the many broom cupboards and yanked the door open, yelling "It's NOT FUNNY!" at the top of her voice. What they saw in the broom cupboard was _not_ what they were expecting.

Inside the cupboard were a haughty looking older girl and a startled teenage boy. They had clearly just been making out, as the boy's face was covered in lipstick, they both had slightly puffy lips, and he looked quite pleased with himself. Artemis burst out laughing at their expressions as Barbara tried to supress her laughter.

"Uh, sorry, wrong cupboard." She said hastily, slamming the door shut on the teens. Artemis started as she heard a familiar laugh echo down the hallway. Babs groaned tiredly.

"That was the _funniest _thing I ever saw!" Dick smirked as he brushed past the two girls. "Honestly, the look on-well, all of your faces was pretty cool. You ready to get back home yet?" He asked. Barbra shook herself out of her daze and grinned at him.

"Sure."

Within a minute and a half they were all sitting comfortably in the back of Alfred's spacious sleek grey Merc.

"Hi Al," He said cheerfully, "How was your day?" Babs was gobsmacked- She had never really seen the acrobat being polite before.

"It was fine, thank you." The butler/grandfather said, "Are we all ready to go home now?" Everyone nodded, and, surprisingly fast, Alfred pulled out of the parking bay and sped off down the street.

After a shockingly fast journey (For Artemis, at least,) they found themselves pulling up through the huge wrought iron gates of Wayne Manor. Artemis looked up at the house; it was about fifty times bigger than the small apartment she and her mother lived in; it towered ominously above them, with tens of different roofs and a huge weather vane on top. Babs al but leapt out of the car-a sure signal that she'd been here before. Artemis followed, climbing hesitantly out if the white leather seat of the Merc. Dick was already at the front door; a huge oak door which looked like it belonged in a fairy tale, not on the streets of Gotham City.

However, as she walked towards the thirteen-year-old, instead of opening the door, he skirted round the side of the house and vanished round the corner. Barbara sighed exasperatedly and followed him.

"He does that every time," She said, annoyed in a jokey way. Artemis chuckled and followed the redhead.

When they got around the corner, Artemis did not see what she expected. She couldn't see the acrobat anywhere. However, Barbara could. She silently pointed upwards to where Dick perched precariously on the sixth-storey window ledge.

"Dick! Get back down here and let us inside!" Babs screeched. Artemis flinched, thinking her sudden shout might throw him off balance, and for a moment she thought she was right. He leaned backwards and curled up into a handstand. Artemis started; not being used to Dick's antics quite yet, she thought he was actually endangering himself.

"D-" Barbara caught her elbow before she could finish yelling.

"It's okay. He knows what he's doing."

And with that, the younger boy sprung off his hands and into the open air. He free-fell for a fraction of a second, before whooping and throwing out a hand. He caught the washing line with it, and, light as he was, he tumbled round it gracefully before slipping in through a window on the first floor.

Babs scowled, before grabbing Artemis' arm and dragging her up to a small side door. She pressed the intercom and spoke.

"Mr Wayne? It's Barbara. Dick's-" she paused for a second, letting the person on the other end speak. "Yes, he's entered the…usual way for him."

She sighed and then waited. After no more than ten seconds, a well-groomed man in a suit opened the door.

"Hi, Mr Wayne." Barbara greeted the billionaire like an old family friend. Artemis just stood there, gawping like a fish. "Uh, this is Artemis. You know, from _school_." She explained, unnecessarily. Of course, he already knew. He was _Batman_, for god's sake! He knew everything about her and probably everyone who ever spoke to her.

"Hello," Artemis said nervously. They then all turned their heads simultaneously as a faint whistling sound drifted in from the (other) doorway, followed by a muted _thud_. Promptly after that, a very bemused Dick Grayson came in, berated by Alfred.

"How many times have I told you about sliding down the bannister, young master?" He asked rhetorically. Dick just grinned at the older man, who grudgingly smiled back. And in that small smile exchange, Artemis could see that the old butler really cared about the acrobat, blood related or not.

"Would you three perhaps like something to eat before starting work on your science project?" Alfred asked. Babs nodded eagerly, and Artemis mumbled her agreement shyly.

"Can we have cookies, Al? Pleeeaase?" Dick asked dramatically, giving puppy-dog eyes to said person. Alfred, however, was not fazed by this tactic. He merely gave the boy a stern but caring look, before speaking again.

"_You_ can't have any right now, as you've got to stay in shape for your other activities, but I'm sure something can be arranged for our guests." The younger boy pouted before his eyebrows knitted together in a frown.

"But Babs is-" His rushed words were interrupted by a rumbling cough from his guardian, who stood in the corner. "…competing in the Gym too!" Something about that statement seemed odd to Artemis. It was the way Babs was nodding along too; she now knew that the redhead was involved and they were hiding something. Bruce and Alfred also knew too, because they didn't object to the sentence. Three puzzle pieces to work with-Artemis was getting close.

She shrugged off the uneasy feeling and followed Dick and Babs out of the room to work on their project.

**!Woo. One thousand, two hundred and seventy words of story, voila. **

**I'll ask again-should I put Tim and Jason into this one? Please advise.**

**-Supernerdette out. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Gotham Academy, Bats, and so much more chapter 6.  
I just wanted to say, thank you **_**so **_**much for your reviews. I know a lot of you wanted Tim and Jason in this story; however there are a lot of timing issues- Dick is about thirteen in this fic, so by my reckoning (and a certain reviewer's) Tim would be about eight- a bit too young to write for, in my opinion.  
Big, big thanks to White Bishop, again. I read all of your ideas-they're great! But please get an account-then I can PM you to say thanks instead. I will definitely include the idea with Wally in it- it's absolutely hilarious. Also, thanks a lot for the comments. But seriously-Uni? It's a bit early (Heh) for that-I'm only 13! Though I may take you up on it and watch Phantom of the Opera. Thanks again for all the support, guys.  
Also, a quick mention for Broken Antler in Winter. They have read most of my stories, so-thanks. **

Dick was so excited about having Artemis and Babs round that he completely forgot (until now) about his other house-guest. So when they'd scampered up the elaborate staircase to his bedroom, he was a bit surprised to see a certain speedster lounging on his bed, eating a bowl of pretzels.

"Dude, _now_ you show up? What happened to 'come over to mine at four o'clock'? I've been waiting for ages!" He complained, not noticing the other two people in the room. When Dick didn't reply, Wally swivelled his head round to survey the scene. He then promptly started choking on a pretzel-evidently he hadn't expected Artemis to be here. Dick reacted quickly by whacking the older boy none too gently with the heel of his hand on the back. Pretzel crumbs exploded everywhere. Artemis didn't think Dick could hit someone that hard. Another puzzle piece.

"Ew." Babs commented, wiping pretzel off her shoe with a tissue. However, Artemis' reaction was the funniest. She was looking at Wally with a shocked expression on her face, not unlike that of someone who'd just been slapped in the face. She was also blushing a faint pink colour, and the thin coating of pretzel dust all over her blazer didn't help at all.

"Wally, you do realize Al is going to be mad at you, don't you?" The acrobat asked rhetorically.

"I'll find a way to make it up to him." The speedster retorted.

From this simple exchange and the way it was said, Artemis gained a lot of information. Firstly-Wally must have been here before, if he was that casual about making a mess. Secondly, in the last part, she realised Wally must know the inhabitants of Wayne Manor very well.

"Anyway…" Barbara dragged her back to the present, "Isn't it time introductions were made?" She asked the two boys, looking pointedly at the archer. Barbara knew who Wally was, and all about Artemis and the team. She was therefore looking forward to how Artemis, the only one who didn't know, would react. She would be treading carefully and probably very mad at Wally, the redhead reflected. Artemis would also be really confused about the relationship of the other three-she wouldn't know how on earth the speedster was friends with the prince of Gotham or herself. Also, she would have to pretend she didn't know Wally, in order to keep her cover.

"Yeah…," Dick mumbled distractedly, "Wally, this is Artemis. She goes to my school. Artemis, this is Wally- his uncle…_works_…with Bruce. He's my best friend… outside of school." He grinned at Babs, who flushed and smiled back. _Those two would make such a cute couple,_ Artemis thought. And how would someone who lives in Central City work at Wayne enterprises? Another puzzle piece was formed. "And you know Babs already. We're here for the science project. It's 23.5b, Wally."

Wally seemed to understand the letters, because his face immediately brightened.

"Dude, the one with the plants? Really?" Dick nodded. "But where are we getting the plants?" He asked. Dick looked over at Barbara. "Unless…No way!"

Babs leant over to a cupboard, where she pulled out a small tray with about ten tiny saplings in it. The plants wriggled violently, as if they wished to move. Artemis saw the plants were tied to the tray securely.

"You didn't!" Wally said,

"We did!" Barbara and Dick said in unison. "The last time, ah, 'Auntie I' was here, she left some presents for us. They're not dangerous, we modified the DNA."

Artemis understood more than they thought. Clearly, Dick had no 'Auntie I', and she knew Bruce Wayne didn't, because neither of them had living relatives-besides, it would've been on the news if they'd had a family visit. And what kind of auntie gives plants as presents?

"Anyway, what are we gonna try and feed them? They absorb liquid real fast- they're a special breed." Dick explained.

"We could try milk!"

"Orange juice!"

"How about alcohol?" Wally added, "It makes _adults_ do crazy things-what'll it make plants do?" Everyone laughed at this.

Wally felt a glare burning into the back of his head. Artemis wasn't Superman, so she (thankfully) had no heat vision, but her glare was almost up to that of Robin's. He turned his head slowly and could see the angry archer staring at him-trying to interrogate him with her eyes only. He flinched away, and bumped into Dick in the process, who turned and snickered.

"We could give them coffee or Hydrofluoric Acid!" Dick suggested eagerly, yanking open a drawer and pulling out a small bottle with a 'dangerous' symbol on. Artemis stared at him. Although she wasn't a scientist, even she knew that HF was one of the most powerful acids known. How would they have any in the house? Why? How did he know of this? Did Bruce know? She didn't get the chance to ask any of those questions, because Alfred knocked on the door with a tray of different drinks-milk, orange juice, coffee, and a small tumbler of what Artemis suspected was vodka.

"Hey, Al. How did you know this was what we needed?" Wally asked. The butler just winked and left the room.

"Bats," Wally quietly whispered into Dick's ear, "Are crazy." The other boy flinched and hit him, hissing back.

"Wrong ID, dude." He hissed near-silently, before nonchalantly picking up the plants from Babs. He poured plain water onto the plant-it promptly grew two feet upwards and wriggled.

"Okaaayyy," Babs said slowly, "That's not weird at all…" They all watched the plant squirm until Dick leant over and stabbed it with a needle. It was immediately still.

"What the..?" Artemis said, flabbergasted. The younger boy shrugged and put the needle in a bin in the corner.

"Tranquilizer," He explained.

"And just why do you have a tranquilizer in your room?" She asked. Barbara and Wally looked at them intensely, as if they were a particularly interesting tennis match on TV.

"Well, just in case rabid paparazzi get in. It's happened before." He said. Barbara laughed, remembering when he'd actually had to knock out a particularly keen reporter.

"Um…ok. Should we try the milk next?" She said, changing the subject. Dick made eye contact with Wally-they both grinned.

"Sure," He said. Artemis poured the milk onto the next plant, which changed colour, the green fading into white, and black patches sprung up-the plant was now Friesian **(cow pattern)**. They watched as said plant grew some other limbs and an udder. It mooed.

Wally collapsed into fits of giggles, and was followed by Dick and Babs-even Artemis found the cow-plant hybrid hilarious. For a minute, she felt like she was just hanging out with friends-not lying about her identity or being a hero. It really weighed on you, she thought, not being 'normal', not getting a chance to be innocent. She felt jealous of Dick-even with his tragic backstory; he surely had nothing more to worry about than troublesome paparazzi, right?

"Wally!" Babs exclaimed, "You weren't supposed to _drink_ the orange juice!" Artemis snorted; typical speedster. He looked back guiltily.

"Never mind-let's just start with the vodka." Dick said good-naturedly. And so he trickled the spirit onto the third plant. Needless to say, they weren't expecting the plant to do what it did. It wildly flailed around, sprouting extra branches that did nothing, and growing loads of multi-coloured flowers. After it danced for a bit, the plant slumped down, motionless.

"Heh. That's kind of like Aunt Iris at her Christmas party," Wally commented. Dick chuckled. Artemis frowned-how did Dick know about Wally's family? In fact-how did he know Wally at all? He'd said Bruce works with his uncle. Artemis knew his uncle was in fact Flash-the man didn't do much to hide his identity. But Wayne Enterprises didn't have anything to do with forensics…maybe Bruce Wayne had something to do with the League, then…

"Okay, Hydrofluoric acid, next up." Barbara's voice shook her out of her stupor. But before she even opened the small bottle, she passed around safety goggles from another drawer. Artemis marvelled at how such random stuff was kept so orderly-wait a minute, _why_ did Dick have a corrosive that strong in his cupboard?

"Uh, wait. Why do you have this, anyway?" She asked. Dick sighed-he hated lying to his friends, but he had to.

"Ehh, you never know when you'll need it…" Babs glared at him, "…for a science experiment just like this!"

Their safety goggles were tinted black and probably cost more than the average car, knowing how Bruce was. Also-he was so paranoid about his ward that they would probably be bomb-proof too. Watching the others adjust the glasses on their faces, she saw Dick putting his on with ease. He looked very familiar with dark eyewear obscuring his cerulean eyes-she just couldn't put a name to the face on who he looked like. Puzzle piece clicked into place

Without further ado, he poured the acid onto the plant. It grew about four feet, then…

It promptly exploded. Bits of plant and plant-pot flew everywhere- a large chunk of the metal tray flew straight at Babs' face. Before said redhead could even utter a noise, a small hand knocked it away. _Damn, those were some fine reflexes, _Artemis thought, before looking up to see the owner of the hand. Hmmm. It was Dick. Another puzzle piece floated around.

**Woo! Any suggestions, thanks.**

**White Bishop-Thanks.**

**I need reviews!**

**-Bye!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Gotham Academy chapter 7.**

**Yeah, I got a lot of lovely reviews, which prompted me to write this this fast. Thanks again to White Bishop for their lovely concrit-I've tried to fix these issues here in this chapter, although some I have left. And don't worry, (not that you did) you didn't offend me there. **

**Also to anyone else who reviewed-thanks. **

**No, Barry doesn't work for W.E. It's a reference to their **_**extra**_** work. (…)**

**Yuu101cutie- Nice to hear from you again!**

**So in this one, we see a **_**tiny**_** bit of Spitfire, as well as some !Protective Dick/Babs (no idea what their shipping name is.)**

After they'd been made to clear up after the plants, Dick and Wally were bored. Alfred had forbidden any other potentially dangerous activities, and it was only 5.00pm. Barbara and Artemis were happy to just talk, and for a while, that's just what they did. Unfortunately, during this time, Wally very much angered the younger boy. It started when they moved to the most used living room of the manor. Flipping on the large, wall-mounted flat-screen TV with the remote, Wally slouched down on the white leather sofa, not-so-discreetly pulling Artemis down by her sleeve.

"_Ow-_Wally, what the heck-" She hissed as she sat down, skirting away from him slightly. He just changed the channel to Food Network and leaned back. About halfway through the program (which was about the best fried breakfast), he yawned and stretched, his arm _conveniently _landing on Artemis' shoulder. She abruptly stiffened before punching him on the side. He put on puppy-dog eyes and acted wounded.

"_Ouch_, Arty. That hurt-why?" His voice had a fake-sad edge as he pouted.

"Shut it, Megamouth." She replied snarkily. He tried to yawn again, but she shrugged out from under his arm. "Gah!"

The constant flirting got on Dick's nerves more than he would admit. His mother had always told him that you should treat a girl with respect-not like an object to be won at a fair. He held his tongue and waited silently instead.

Wally got bored (again)after ten more minutes of the program, so he suggested they play hide and seek instead. After a quick lecture from his best friend, ("No, you _can't_ use your super-speed,") the speedster agreed to play on the _top_ levels of the house only. Artemis was to be the counter/finder. She shut her eyes tight and started counting.

"1…2…3," Wally spun around; typical-Babs and Dick were already out of sight. Sighing, he quickly scurried off to find a hiding place. After about five minutes, he was pretty sure he wouldn't be found. He was in the laundry room, on the bottom (ground level) floor of the mansion, behind a wooden clothes bin.

"…Ninety eight…ninety nine...one hundred. Gonna get you now!" Artemis shouted. Wally flinched. Surely, with Dick _and_ Babs to look for, she wouldn't look straight for him, right? In terms of probability…

Who was he kidding? Of _course_ she would come looking for him first-the archer practically hated his guts. So, unsurprisingly, after a minute or two, the lid lifted off the clothes bin and Wally looked up, squinting slightly against the light; the opaque lid had let no light through so his eyes were still adjusting to the darkness.

"Gah!" Wally yelled as Artemis pushed the laundry bin over, spilling out a much disorientated speedster after no less than three rotations. He quickly rolled out of the bin and sprung to his feet facing her.

"Wally. I need answers. Start talking." She growled. Wally folded his arms.

"No. I'm not going to talk. Hey, isn't this _totally_ like that corny spy movie? The one with the terrorists, and the guy being interrogated?"

"All spy movies are like that! And stop changing the subject! How do you know Dick and Barbara?"

Wally started fidgeting. His feet were shuffling on the floor so fast they were a blur. Artemis glared at him again.

"Uh, like I said, Uncle Barry needed to do some work for Wayne Enterprises, and he dragged me along too. There was this kind of fundraiser thing, and we met there."

"Wally, he's like the richest kid in Gotham. No way would that story be true-for one, Wayne wouldn't let you within a metre of him unless he was sure you could be trusted. If that was when you met him, then he wouldn't know you."

"Uh…" Wally was, for once, speechless.

"Also, Wayne Enterprises doesn't have anything to do with forensic science."

Artemis' detective skills weren't nearly Robin level, but she was way better than he'd realised-way better than he'd prepared for. The speedster didn't want to betray Robin-so he'd better get out of there, and quickly. "Then I met Babs when I came round here once-bye!" He knew he couldn't use his super-speed in the mansion, so he ran at a normal speed out of the door and up a flight of stairs and into a hallway. There were two confused-looking Bats waiting for him.

"Uh, hey." He said, cursing his not-so-smooth tongue.

"Wally, where the hell were you? It's been almost an hour." Dick asked carefully.

"I, erm, got lost…? Actually, where were _you_? I didn't see you." He said nervously. Artemis quietly sidled into the hallway behind the speedster. Barbara didn't see her, and she turned back to Wally.

"We hid in the other laundry room-did you know Dick could squash himself into the washing machine? He disconnected it first so he wouldn't, you know, drown. Anyway, I don't believe you got _lost_- a; you've been here more times than I can count, and b; all three of us know you could have got back really quickly without much trouble."

Artemis stifled a gasp; that proved they both knew about his super-speed, and it didn't take a genius to realise that probably meant they knew he was Kid Flash too. She _knew_ there was something funny about Dick Grayson, but she thought Barbara Gordon was just normal-ish.

So who were they? Were they just trustworthy friends of Wally's? Artemis knew if they knew his identity, then they probably knew Flash's-it wasn't a very closely guarded secret, he was pretty lax when it came to things like secret IDs. And anyone and everyone who knew the leaguer's identities were on the Justice League Database.

So, Artemis decided that at the weekend, when she was at the cave, that she would enlist Robin's help with a little hacking problem.

**Woo#! Another chapter. Sorry I haven't updated lately- I haven't been able to access a computer due to building work on my house.**

**All reviews appreciated!**


	8. Chapter 8 (Robin Hacks Himself)

**Gotham Academy chapter 8.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, especially You-Know-Who. (No, not Voldemort.) Your reviews prompt me to keep up the story. I **_**might**_** be putting a story up for adoption soon. (NOT THIS ONE!)**

**I'm sorry if the Justice League data is a bit vague as well as being too suspicious, but I needed something to tip Artemis off. **

**By the way, the Mount Justice here is mostly the one in my imagination-so probably not canon. Sorry. **

It was a slow day at Mount Justice. Most of the Justice League was away on a reconnaissance mission on a far off planet, so the Young Justice team were mostly training and chilling.

Wally was sitting on the sofa with a bowl of popcorn, watching Food Network eagerly. M'gann stood at the small counter in the kitchen, levitating ingredients to make several batches of cookies at once; chocolate chip, oatmeal, white chocolate and raspberry, and chocolate orange. Conner was pummelling a solid steel punchbag (punch box) back and forth on its hooks like it weighed nothing over in the corner, and Robin-well, he was being Robin. The younger boy was so full of energy that he couldn't keep still; in fact he was alternating between swinging on the uneven bars in the room below their little balcony, racing around the rafters in the ceiling, and tumbling on the floor.

"Recognised Artemis, B07." The computerized voice rang out loudly.

Wally, for once in his lifetime, froze. He was completely and absolutely still. Used to his constant movements, M'gann instantly noticed something was up.

"Wally?" She asked. He gulped nervously.

"Uh, nothing. Gotta get Rob quick." His brief answer startled her-he was usually very keen to talk and not in the least bit fond of holding his tongue. Nevertheless, she complied, sending the acrobat a message in his head.

_Robin,_ she spoke telepathically. Not expecting this intrusion, said thirteen-year-old was very startled by it; he'd been swinging on the bars at the time-the foreign voice in his head had shocked him into slipping.

"Gah!" He yelled as he tumbled towards the floor about twelve feet below. Just in time, he managed to stop his fall with a roll, bleeding out the momentum into a series of flips.  
"Aw, Miss M, you've got to stop doing that," He said, rubbing his elbow where it had collided rather painfully with the floor. "I could've got hurt." His voice wavered undetectably at the last statement.

"Blame Wally. He asked me to get your attention," She replied.

The speedster in question blurred down the stairs and was at Robin's side in an instant, vibrating his feet nervously.

"Dude, she's here." He said quietly. The reaction he got from Robin was unsatisfactory- the boy merely shrugged before turning around. Wally seemed to be anxious, as he grabbed his shoulder and spun him back to face him. "Artemis is here," And no sooner had the words left his mouth, than the archer entered the room in full uniform. Spotting Wally, her expression changed from irritated, to slightly confused, to downright thunderous.

"Yeeahhh… think I'll let you handle that one yourself, Wally," Robin said, before handspring-ing out of the room.

"Dude!" He said indignantly, "What kind of a best friend are you?" The response was but a cackle. By this time, Artemis had strode up to the speedster, and stabbed him in the chest with her finger, right on the _Flash_ symbol.

"Ow! What the heck, Artemis…?"

"Wallace **(insert middle name here)** West!" She yelled, "I want answers. Now!" She said angrily. At this point, M'gann and Conner realised something was up. They approached, but were waved away by Robin, who had re-entered the room at a safe distance.

"I don't know what you're…" He trailed off timidly.

"Don't you _dare_ say you don't know what I'm talking about! You know exactly what I'm saying! And how would Flash respond if he knew a civilian knew your identity?" Artemis raged.

"Uh, Aunt Iris knows, as well as…"

"A civilian that's NOT RELATED TO YOU!"

"Um, well, Flash was actually the one who told him. He trusts Mr Wayne loads," Wally argued. Robin had to hold back a nervous giggle at this last statement, it was so true.

"Yes, but does he trust his son? Let's get a third opinion," She said confidently. "Robin, you wouldn't help me _hack_ something, would you?" She walked over to the small computer in the corner of the room. "We need to access the League database." As if the word _hack_ was a magical one, Robin seemed to perk up instantly and he briskly walked over, followed by KF, who looked like someone had just told him a very funny joke.

"You do realise that what you're suggesting is virtually impossible as well as illegal, right?" He asked, "I mean, this is _League_ data-they will have protected it with all means possible."

"Rob, stop pretending you didn't do it when you were nine, and get on with it." Wally huffed, trying to pretend to be surly. Artemis gaped at Robin. _Nine?_ He'd hacked League systems at the age of nine? Wow.

That little piece of knowledge left her suddenly craving more. She knew Wally's ID, M'gann's earth form-Conner didn't really _have_ a secret identity, and most people knew she was Artemis Crock-though they didn't know of her parentage. Still, she was pretty sure at least _Robin_ knew she was Sportsmaster's daughter, and knowing so little about him irked her to no end. She wanted to know who was behind the domino mask of which the lenses were always shut.

"Yeah, okay then. I'm pretty sure Batman left me some clues for when I wanted to do it next, and it's been a while since I checked on…stuff." Robin agreed, before plugging his wrist computer into the corner hub, bringing up a holographic keyboard and screen. He also connected several USB sticks, as well as a thick red wire.

His fingers moved on the keys like a pianist's- tapping symbols and entering codes that would confuse most of the League. After about five minutes, Robin faces started appearing on the screen, turned green, and suddenly they were in.

"So, what did you want to see? I was gonna go through the usual stuff, but…" Robin trailed off. Artemis suddenly realised this would be a good opportunity to spot some information on the acrobat.

"No, it's fine. We'll just, uh, wait here until you've finished." She said hesitantly. Robin shrugged but complied.

He was lying about not checking the League systems lately-in fact Robin made it his habit to discreetly check the databases about twice a day. His usual routine comprised of… checking the site for recent activity, monitoring the firewalls, and generally having a good ol' nose around to see anything suspicious.

This time, though, he wanted to downplay things. First, he tapped into the internet to check YouTube for abnormal acrobatic activity. Part of the reason he did this was to try and see if he had any unknown relatives somewhere out there, and the other was to make sure nobody was a better acrobat than a Grayson. His parents deaths had reinforced his belief that the Graysons are, were, and always will be the world's best acrobats. So if he saw a new trick or something, he wouldn't take down the video. Instead, he would spend hours, sometimes days, learning, perfecting, and improving the trick.

Artemis peered over his shoulder-Robin didn't mind, after all, what was the matter if she saw him looking at acrobatic videos? He could just say it was practice.

A small tear slipped down his face. He frowned-was he crying? Quickly pulling himself back into the present, he realised he was watching his parents' famous quadruple somersault from before he was born. Cursing, he quickly closed the site and wiped away the tear.

"Done," He said. Artemis looked at him questioningly and Wally just gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"Okay, this shouldn't be too hard…" Artemis mused, selecting the search bar. She typed in 'Dick Grayson' before hitting the _enter_ button. Wally choked, surprised, and Robin just looked on, amused.

"Why are you researching Bruce Wayne's son?" He asked, eager to see what her excuse would be.

"Uh, well- I was doing a science project the other day, and I found out he knows Kid Idiot's ID, so I wanted to make sure it was safe." She explained. Robin was slightly surprised-he didn't know her skills of perception were that good. He was also a bit hurt at her wanting to make sure it was safe. He knew it was childish, but he wanted to feel trusted for once.

"Wait, did it not occur to you that nobody could know my ID without Flash knowing too?" Wally interjected, "And if Flash trusts him, then that's enough for me." Robin suddenly felt an odd sense of gratitude towards his best friend for accepting him as he was. Because Robin wasn't the mask, Robin wasn't the fake-it was Richard Grayson he had to pretend for. And he'd known Wally since he was 10 and Wally was 12-just starting work with the speedster. Wally seemed to sense his sudden rush of emotion because he put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

The search results arrived. Searches on the computer, especially the corner computer that Robin had just hacked into, weren't too fast. The reason for this was that the League kept most of their data on a satellite near the watchtower, so the information had to be beamed down from space. Also, it was rerouted around the planet to avoid being traced.

It was data on Dick Grayson. The page had a silhouette picture of his face, and read…

Justice League files on Dick Grayson.

_Full Name: Richard John Grayson_

_Aliases: Classified_

_Age: 13 Earth years_

_Parents: Deceased_

_Notable family members: Bruce Wayne, guardian._

_Species: Human (Non-meta)_

_Notable talents: Classified_

_Significance to League: Level 5 (Classified)_

_Languages: Classified_

_Security clearance: Access all. (Green)(Administrator level)_

The list of information went on to things like height, age, and blood type, as well as useless things like school. Artemis was utterly shocked by the first few. Why was so much classified about him? She'd persuaded Robin to hack into the systems to let her take a look at _her_ file, and the only thing that was classified was her parentage. And she was a hero- what could Dick possibly have about him that would mean classification?

Also, why was the 'Aliases' column labelled classified? Almost all civilians' profiles had 'none' written under 'aliases' or some kind of nickname. What kind of person has a nickname but doesn't want people to know it? And why was his significance level at level 5? The highest significance level was level 6a, and that was for the founders of the Justice League. Several minor Leaguers had Level 5 significance, and Artemis could remember seeing most of the team's (non-secret) files (apart from Robin) on the computer, and they only had significance of 4c.

And the biggest question of all-why did he have Access All security clearance? Half of the Justice League didn't have that much-especially the newer members. So they must've known this kid for a long time, and have valid reasons to trust him. Behind her, Robin coughed. She suddenly looked at the clock-she'd been standing there for almost fifteen minutes. Feeling like a total klutz, she quickly closed the screen and the acrobat unplugged his wrist computer.

"See, I _told_ you Dick was trustworthy!" Wally argued. She just nodded and played along, but the thoughts in her head were whizzing round a mile a minute.

She had most of the puzzle pieces, but no picture to work from to fit them together. From the way Wally and Robin were acting, she could tell that they knew why this kid had the security clearance, and why most of his data was classified. They just weren't willing to help her put his puzzle together. So she'd have to figure it out on her own.

**Whew! That was one heck of a chapter! I'm sorry if I don't update for a while, but that chapter was pretty long by my standards for this story, so I hope you've got enough to keep you going. **

**_thanks, and remember to review.**

**P.S, could someone tell me what a plotdragon/plotbunnies is/are? Also, what does R&R stand for? Someone should seriously make a fanfiction dictionary. **


	9. Chapter 9 (Artemis finds out about Dick)

**Gotham Academy chapter 9.**

**So, I received lots of positive feedback for last chapter. Personally, I think it was the best chapter yet. It'll be a hard chapter to follow, that's for sure. So please be patient with me for this one; I'm updating fast because I'm so bored and YJ is taking a long time to load (I'm watching them all again online). **

**Warning- **_**Very very very slight reference to suicide. It's not anyone important to the plot, I promise. Not even a named character**_**.  
I just thought I should give you the warning just in case.**

**The stuff about Gotham Juvenile is not canon-it's just my take on it.**

**Thanks for everything.**

Artemis had known Dick for little over a month-yet she still felt like she knew next to nothing about him. This frustrated her-she was quite good at making friends and making people feel comfortable around her, so why wouldn't it work on him? She was running out of options when it came to finding out about Dick Grayson. So, she did what she hated doing, and only used as a last result. Artemis asked a friend for help.

And in the _one_ class that they didn't sit together in, which was Geography (Dick had to sit by the teacher, Miss Green, since she caught him about to prank her), Artemis decided to ask Barbara to lend her a hand. They'd just finished a worksheet about erosion, and had about five minutes before the rest of the class did too.

"Hey, Babs," She gained the redhead's attention by nudging her with her elbow.

"Mmmph…?" She replied sleepily; it was a habit of hers to grab a few minutes of shut-eye whenever she could – at home, her father was always getting called out for his Commissioner duty, and for some reason he never liked her being at home, asleep, on her own. Therefore, she was always awake at crazy hours, and more often than not tired during the day. "…Yeah, what?" She asked blearily, rubbing her eyes to clear the dots from them.

"What do you know about Dick that I don't?" Artemis asked. The bluntness of the question shocked Barbara-her friend was usually so much more subtle…she couldn't be referring to the fact that he was Robin, could she?

"Ehm, well, not much. I only came to Gotham Academy a couple of years ago-I'm on a scholarship too," She said. Rolling her eyes at Artemis' puzzled look, she elaborated. "What, you think my dad's Commissioner salary would cover _this_?" She gestured to the expensive blazer-and-tie uniform, then the state of the art equipment. **(I don't know how much Gordon gets paid; I'm just pretending it wouldn't cover her school stuff) **

"Fair point. Go on," Artemis added.

"And we both know he's not really the trusting type. But…" She lowered her voice so nobody could hear her, "…What do you want to know?"

"You'd tell me?" Artemis was shocked-she thought the two were much more loyal than that. Barbara blushed, feeling guilty about what she'd just said.

"…It depends why you want to know. There aren't…there aren't many people who like him here. Most people resent him for being put up several grades, and others have tried to be friends with him just to find out information they can use against him later,"

"Ouch." Artemis sympathized.

"Yeah, I know. But when I transferred-" Babs was cut off by Artemis again

"Wait, what?"

"- I used to go to _Gotham Central_," She said the name with a barely conceivable shudder, before continuing, "When I transferred here, he had _no friends at all_." Artemis let out a low whistle of sympathy. Miss Green noticed, and gave her the evil eye, before coming over with another worksheet, this time one about the water cycle.

"And I've noticed he's not exactly the _trusting_ type-and he doesn't really like to hang out with people much either. I want to know why, amongst other things," Artemis asked boldly. Barbara quickly looked over to where Dick sat; she didn't want him to think she was betraying him by telling Artemis this. "Don't worry-I won't tell anybody else, I promise. This is just so I know what not to say," The lie slipped through her lips easily-perhaps because it was part truth.

"Um… okay." Babs still didn't quite feel okay with this, but she pushed away the lingering doubt-Artemis _was _a member of his team, anyway- and started the story. "Well-when you get to know him, he's actually quite sociable. It's just getting there that's the hard part. You know the, ah, _first_ part of his past, I presume?"

"Mm-hmm," Artemis agreed, "Go on,"

"Well, after the _accident_," Artemis noticed how she said the word, almost as if she did not believe it was one-almost as if she knew more about it- "He wasn't taken in by Bruce straight away. They didn't have any beds in orphanages or childrens' homes free- so he was put in Juvenile."

"Wait, Gotham Juvenile detention Centre? _That_ one?" Artemis was in disbelief.

"Yeah… He said it was awful. Told me a kid hung himself there after two weeks in that hell-hole." Babs supressed another shudder at the horrible thoughts, and Artemis couldn't stop herself from thinking about all the horrors her friend had been through-it wasn't fair, it wasn't fair at all.

"Wait… how long was _he_ there for?"

"Three months." Barbara deadpanned. "He's resilient."

"You don't say,"

"He doesn't talk about his time there but…" Babs tried to talk light-heartedly, "I think that's where he gets his friendship issues from."

"But you're his best friend," Artemis said, "And I can see you two are… something else entirely," Barbara blushed. "Not like _that_, you idiot," Artemis chided, "But you can tell he trusts you. More than he trusts anyone else-except maybe Bruce or Alfred."

"Yeah. He doesn't even trust anybody on the team, apparently…" Babs sighed absent-mindedly. Artemis froze. Like, _froze_ froze. She didn't even blink at all-just stayed in her exact same position, chin resting on her hands, elbows on the desk in front of her. Her mind was whirring at Wally-speed. Was it possible Barbara just said what Artemis thought she said? What on earth was going on here?

Artemis was just about to ask what was happening, when Babs squeaked, realising her mistake. "The gymnastics team!" She said quickly, "They-_we_ are all really close, so it's just weird for him not to trust them. I mean-we do all kinds of dangerous stunts together and stuff." The hastily made up lie was not one of her best - Babs knew Artemis was still suspicious.

"Okay," Artemis held her hands up, palms facing towards the other girl, as a sign of reconcilement. However, she knew there was something going on here; something suspicious. And Artemis, as usual, was determined to figure it out.

The bell rang, and Babs hurriedly closed their books, trapping the worksheet in-between pages. It was lunchtime, and they were all eager to leave the stuffy classroom and head outside. Surprisingly, Dick (who had been sitting at the front of the class, next to Miss Green's desk), was the first one out of the classroom, using his small wiry body to squeeze past everyone else. He glanced back at Artemis and Barbara, sending them a slightly annoyed, slightly hurt look. Allowing themselves to be swept up in the tide of people, his two friends followed on.

When they were out of the door, Babs sighed wearily. "He knows we were talking about him," she said bluntly.

"What? But we were like on the other side of the class entirely! _And_ we were whispering! How did he hear us from there?"

"He didn't _hear_ us, Artemis. As clever as he is, he doesn't have super-hearing or anything. But that's one of his main talents-"

"What, super-hearing?" Artemis was incredulous. If he had super hearing, then-

"No. He's really good at reading people's body language. It's freaky sometimes. Like, he had this silent conversation with Bruce-well; it was more of an argument really. Anyway, none of them spoke a word, but Dick still won the argument."

"Erm…okay. But if he knows we were talking about him, isn't he upset?" Artemis asked genuinely. Babs looked over to where the acrobat sat, perched on top of their usual wall like a bird. **Heh.**

"Yeah…I'll go talk to him. Can you stay here for a bit?" Without waiting for an answer, Barbara sped off.

When she reached the wall, she could see her friend's facial expression clearer. It was a sort of wistful smile, with a bit of sorrow mixed in.

"Hey," She said hesitantly.

"You told her about the Centre." It wasn't a question. He knew, she knew he knew, and he knew she knew that he knew. **(Wha…?)**

"Yes. Dick, I know you don't like people _knowing_ about you, but if she's on your team…"

"I know." He said resignedly.

He hopped off the wall and did just _one_ teensy flip (he couldn't draw attention to himself), and joined Babs in walking over to Artemis. They then wandered over to the library, eating on the way.

**Hands up if you think that was a crappy ending! *Waves hand in the air frantically. **

**Look out for the next chapter-The Team get to go to Gotham Juvenile detention Centre, and it brings back bad memories. Should be up within two or three weeks or sooner.**

**Really sorry about the ending of this chapter-please forgive me.**

**PS. (Your ego should be undamaged-it was you I was referring to).**

**-Bye!**


	10. 10 Juvenile mission part one-preparation

**Gotham Academy chapter 10**

**Wow. Like, 8 reviews in 1 night? A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Thank you **_**so**_** much for all your support. No, I'm not ending the story here. Thanks. And you spelt aneurysm wrong, btw. On with the chapter! I'm sorry if Aqualad/Miss M/Superboy is/are a bit OOC-I'm not used to writing for them. I'm sorry that this chapter is just a teaser chapter- I didn't have time to write about the mission yet and I wanted to make sure the mission chapter was the best. I am aware that this chapter isn't one of the best-so please don't feel the need to be too cruel with reviews. Wally knows the whole of Robin's past. He knows Bruce's ID, but is a bit forgetful.**

Robin was just chilling on the sofa, drinking lemonade with a straw and trying to troll Artemis, who was doing warm-up exercises with her bow. He wasn't training because the previous night in Gotham had resulted in some bruised ribs for him and a new jail cell for Harley Quinn. _Apparently I make a great piñata, _he thought wryly. Every now and then, he would throw a rubber-tipped batarang at her bow whilst she was trying to shoot. This would knock the arrow off course, and Artemis kept complaining loudly that if he wasn't going to do anything useful then he might as well go train on the gymnastics equipment.

Wally found this hilarious, for some reason, and he laughed every time she said that. Conner stood in the kitchen, helping M'gann make a batch of cookies, and occasionally accidentally-on-purpose dropping some cookie dough for Wolf to pick up. Kaldur sat next to Robin on the sofa, occasionally laughing due to mistakes on the _Life Undersea_ programme they were watching.

"Recognised Batman, 02." The metallic voice announced as the Caped Crusader entered the room. Immediately everyone (who wasn't standing already) jumped to their feet, except Robin. He pulled at the straw in his lemonade, flinching slightly when it just sucked up air, making a loud noise. At this, Wally burst out laughing-the combination of Batman's stony (cowled) face, the rude noise of the straw, and the team's slightly scared expressions. Robin just looked relaxed and amused.

"Team," Batman growled, before being interrupted by Robin making the noise with the straw again. Wally stifled a laugh. The big bad bat gave them a toned-down version of the Batglare to shut them up-it worked-Robin stood up, wincing only slightly as he jarred his ribs painfully. Batman shot him a look, and he stared back. Nods were exchanged, and Artemis remembered a conversation she'd had with Barbara Gordon about how people communicated without talking. Robin shrugged after a few minutes of stare-talking, and walked over to his teammates, lemonade in hand. "There is a surveillance mission in Gotham for you." Batman said again.

"Your mission is to investigate and try and find and unauthorized surveillance equipment, or anything else that looks suspicious. You will stay there for a week." Batman growled.

"Wait, _unauthorized _surveillance equipment? Why would there be any at all?" Artemis smelled a rat here.

"Because the place in question is under heavy surveillance already for a number of different reasons- for one, the protection of its inmates."

"We're going to a _prison_?" Kaldur asked, a little confused. "Why?"

"Like I told you, a number of unpleasant people have been seen around this area, possibly recruiting. You need to stop any suspicious behaviour by staff or inmates." Batman said impatiently.

"How are we supposed to get there if we don't know where it is?" Conner asked bluntly.

"I will tell you where it is. It's in the centre of Gotham, just next to Gotham Central School," Batman continued, "You are going to be checking Gotham Juvenile detention Centre, and you will have to pretend to be inmates."

Superboy saw Robin losing the grip on the glass in his hand. He thought the boy would catch it; he'd seen Robin had some pretty awesome reflexes in training. So he didn't try and intercept the beverage, and it surprised him immensely as the younger boy made no effort to catch the glass, which fell to the floor and shattered, small fragments of glass flying off everywhere.

M'gann, Kaldur, and Artemis jumped back, startled by the sudden spray of sharp glass. Conner just stood there – it wasn't as if the glass would hurt him, anyways, and Wally blurred next to Robin, with a stony expression.

"Robin-?" M'gann looked confused

"J-just the ribs. I'll be fine,"

"The rest of you – go wait over there" He gestured to a corner, and the team obliged "Robin, a word before you go." No-one was brave enough to defy the Bat's orders, but Aqualad was surprised to see Wally still at the acrobat's side. He didn't say a word, instead just staring blankly at the mess of glass and lemonade on the floor.

"Robin." Batman said, conveying worry, anger, regret, and a hundred and one other emotions in those five letters. "You know you can always pull out now – I won't be angry at you." Wally was a bit shocked that the big bad Bat was capable of showing concern-let alone being friendly.

"I know. I can tough it out – it's not like I haven't done it before. Though this time having to pretend I _deserve_ to be there… will be hard." Batman nodded, before waving the others back over. Wally frowned at him on behalf of the younger boy.

"Bring standard Gotham kit. Robin will help you. Go pack and come up with identities, I've got stuff to do," And with that, the dark knight swept out of the room, leaving some very confused teens and an amused bird.

"Robin… dare I ask?" Kaldur didn't need to change clothes-as he had no secret ID, he was always Aqualad and therefore always had his uniform/costume on. "What is 'Gotham Kit'?" Robin only sighed in response, before clearing his throat to begin what he knew would have to be a long lecture on Gotham.

"Okay peeps, listen up," He said. Everyone looked over eagerly. "Gotham kit, for starters, is the worst-case-scenario stuff for you to bring. Everyone must wear trackers so Artemis and I can tell where you are at all times. Any and all non-lethal weapons must be brought along and also…" He rummaged in his utility belt, before pulling out a small, sheathed dagger, and looking at it with a haunted expression "…A few lethal ones, if you have any."

Everyone objected to this. "We're heroes-we don't kill!" He wasn't sure who said that, but had to explain anyway.

"That's why. If you don't want to be shot, tortured, murdered, whipped, stabbed, mauled by hyenas, gassed, poisoned, mind controlled, see your worst fears," Robin flinched before carrying on, "see your worst memories, be eaten and regurgitated by plants, tricked, kidnapped, murdered or attacked, then please do as I say." Artemis and Wally stopped bickering, shocked by Robin's outburst. M'gann and Kaldur were more affected by his words.

"Could-Could all that happen, in Gotham?" The Martian asked timidly. They all knew that this hero business was dangerous, but they'd never had it spelled out so clearly for them. It was scary to think about.

"Every single one of those apart from being murdered has happened to me so far," Robin deadpanned. M'gann gasped in shock, and even Kaldur looked uneasy. Wally's skin turned a faint greenish colour- sure he knew things in Gotham were rough, but this was something new altogether. "So, yeah. Gotham kit is basically anything and everything you can bring that may help you. I'm gonna go change into civvies, re-pack my belt and take some pain meds for the ribs – I suggest you guys go and pack your, uh, whatever it is that you pack. And you need to wear the oldest, scruffiest clothes you can find." And with that, Robin left the room, disappearing like a ninja.

"Did you know about this?" Aqualad asked the room in general, referring to the horrors of Gotham. One by one everyone shook their heads, except for Artemis.

"Artemis?" The Atlantean asked gently, "What is it?"

"I, uh, have a cousin in Gotham City, so I go visit quite a lot. It's not – it's not a nice place to grow up in, let's just say that."

Everyone left the room to pack their pockets full of weapons and useful stuff. Conner felt the sarcasm- as he didn't have a costume, (No capes, no tights – no offence,) he just wore combat trousers, which happened to have at least ten pockets. However, due to his Kryptonian DNA, he didn't think he would need many gadgets. He took some anyway though, raiding the weapons room of the Mountain.

They all rendezvoused back in the central room, and none of the team were surprised to see Batman standing there next to Robin, who was massaging his sore ribs slightly, with an unreadable expression on what little of his face could be seen under the cowl. Wally wore some jeans with torn knees and a dark shirt- M'gann a red miniskirt that was ripped slightly with a blue hoodie, Superboy his usual combat trousers but this time a plain black t-shirt, Artemis was also in ripped jeans, and a long sleeved green t-shirt with holes in it. Kaldur wore black trackies and a t-shirt with a shark on it. The acrobat was wearing a too-long pair of brown trousers with frayed edges, and a t-shirt with what Kaldur thought was meant to be a skull on it with a grey hoodie. He wore sunglasses, but ones that were a different style and that had cracks in - though they still couldn't see his eyes.

"Are you all ready?" Robin asked, and everyone nodded nervously. They were all a little bit scared because, well, Gotham. The city was poisoned enough to bring anybody down, so to speak, and from what little Robin had told them wasn't exactly praising the city.

"You will, as I said earlier, have to pretend to be inmates. And that will require names and crimes to be made up. Do you have any suggestions for names for yourselves?" Batman asked. Everyone jumped- they weren't aware he'd come back into the room. M'gann raised her hand timidly.

"Could I still be Megan?" She asked. Robin nodded, and Batman left the room whilst they prepared.

"You'll need to change your appearances… Megan, could you turn Caucasian, and maybe make your hair a little uneven?" She did as Robin suggested, "And Voila! We have here Megan Moss, guilty of minor to moderate theft charges. That should be enough to get you into a class C or below block, anyway." Artemis frowned. Something was off; how come Robin knew so much about this Centre? Another puzzle piece joined the ones swirling around in her head.

"Artemis… hmmm… what kind of name would you like?" the acrobat mused, thinking. Artemis, for all her great combat skills, wasn't very imaginative when it came to words. "Can you be Emily Davis for a week?" She nodded, "Asterous. So, you won't need to change your looks much-maybe keep your hair unwashed and tied back for a bit," She made a face before letting him continue, "And a crime to suit you…one charge of violent assault should do. Class B to C, probably."

"Conner-well, I think it's safe to say you can keep your name – but change Kent to Nelson. Conner Nelson. Your looks can stay the same, and you can have five counts of antisocial behaviour." Wally snickered- this charge suited Conner perfectly.

"Kaldur, you can be Kal. And a surname… how about Smith?

"Can I be Kal Currie instead? That is Aquaman's human identity's surname, just spelt differently." Robin nodded, before looking him over and nodding. "You look fine- assuming you can cover up those gills?" Kal obliged, closing his gills so they just looked like normal skin, "And your blond hair stands out too much." He chucked a bottle of dye at him, before explaining the crime. "You'll have time to dye it in the bioship. Anyway, you'll be charged with trespass and a minor assault case."

"Wally…what d'you want to be called?" Robin asked, and Wally blushed. He didn't like his name much but he thought Robin had it worse off than him. "How about West?" Wally nodded.

"I'll need a different surname; I can't be West West," He pointed out. "Hey, can I be West Wayne?" Wally said teasingly.

"No. Too much alliteration." The excuse was lame but all the acrobat could think of.

"Aw, but if M'gann gets to be Megan Moss – arrgh. Sorry, bro." He realised his mistake and felt stupid about it. "West Jones?"

"Yeah, okay. Your hair could make you an easy target for bullies though…" Robin trailed off, looking at Wally – looking at _West_ uneasily. Wally suddenly felt a rush of gratitude for the younger boy, as well as a surge of respect and pride that he was on this mission and the team. He knew Robin's time at the centre had been brutal to say the least, and he knew most of that was because of the other inmates.

"I'll dye it with the same stuff Kal will use. We can pretend to be related – third cousins or whatever."

"Wally…that was actually a good idea!" Robin said.

"Don't sound so surprised!"

"You can have charges of joyriding, vehicle theft and mugging- should get you into A or B block."

"Okay, so I only need an ID for me, now…" Robin thought for a second or two, before coming up with a person. "Daniel Silva. I just need to-" he removed his hoodie, revealing several scars on each of his arms **(no, not those. Just scars from being Robin)**, and what looked like a gunshot scar that could just be seen from under the sleeve of his t-shirt. He changed his facial expression to a sneer, and pulled out something from his trouser pocket before putting it into his mouth and grinning. It was a real gold fake gold tooth. **(I mean it's made of gold but that it's just a cover for a tooth, not a whole new tooth)**

"How's this?" He asked the team. His posture was also changed to slouching, and with that, the expression, the scars and the clothes, he almost seemed to be a different person altogether; so much so that if the team didn't know he was Robin, they would think he was actually this _Silva_ person. He reached into his pockets and pulled out some weird shaped blocks, which he popped into the soles of his worn out trainers – giving the illusion that he was taller.

Everyone apart from Wally stared at him in shock- he seemed to have aged three years, and he looked like a sixteen-nearly-seventeen-year old instead of a scrawny thirteen-year old.

"Wow." They all agreed with Artemis' statement of slight shock.

"Um, I'll have charges of armed robbery, armed assault and theft as well as illegal possession of weaponry, and one count of manslaughter." Robin- no, _Silva_, said. His voice also made it sound like he'd grown three years in three minutes.

"Wait – Why have you made your charges so much worse than ours?" Artemis asked. She knew something was up here.

"So I can get into a worse block- probably A block," He explained casually, as if he hadn't just accused himself of killing someone.

"But Robin - won't that be dangerous? Should one of us-?" Kal said cautiously. Robin/Silva's face turned into a deeper sneer, and he growled back. Megan took an involuntary step backwards – Silva was much scarier than Robin, and she didn't like it one bit.

"I'll be fine. Let's go." And with that, the not-sixteen-year old turned on his heels and walked to the bioship, only stopping to have a quick unspoken conversation with his mentor who stood in the corner.

**Yeah, I know the ending (and a lot of the chapter) sucked. The next chapter will hopefully cover the whole week that they're there for. Please tell me what you think, but please don't be too mean. I'm aware that this chapter isn't as good as previous ones.** But it was longer (2538 words)

**-reviews appreciated, next chapter in probably a week or two due to lots of things which I won't bore you with.**

**Bye.**


	11. Juvenile mission part two-the journey

**Gotham Academy chapter 11. **

**I really need a new title for this story because, well, it's not really about Gotham Academy anymore. Anyway. I got **_**way**_** more reviews and honestly, I'm surprised you reviewed because in my opinion that last chapter was rubbish. Anyway-let's continue. PS I will refer to the characters as their proper names **_**and**_** their undercover ones. M'gann=Megan Moss, Artemis=Emily Davis, Conner=Conner Nelson, Kaldur=Kal Currie, Wally= West Jones, and Robin = Daniel Silva. The character of Silva is actually based on an OC of mine.**

**I just need to stress that this is all in my imagination and that I have no idea what the process on getting into the centre would be, as well as getting arrested. I am not a law expert, nor a police officer, so if you see anything wrong with the process then just make up what's missing. By the way – they've already been sentenced so the police van is just dropping them off. **

The ride in the bioship was mostly uneventful. Robin – _Silva_ had briefed them all on what their crimes were again. Megan had minor theft charges including shoplifting, Emily (Artemis) had one account of violent assault **(lol-what type of assault **_**isn't**_** violent?)**, Kal had trespass, vandalism and minor assault- specifically trespassing at a shipyard and vandalising boats, before punching someone to make a getaway; Conner had charges of antisocial behaviour; West joyriding, vehicle theft and mugging, and Silva armed robbery, armed assault, illegal possession of weaponry and manslaughter. The way Robin acted made everyone edgy; he was acting like he was actually this Silva person, and the snarling and constant frown/sneer was a huge contrast to his usual ever-present smirk and grin. Also, Silva was carrying a knife. Actually, he had no fewer than twelve different weapons stationed about his person, as well as the 20'' long blade that was just for show.

Wally and Kal dyed their hair – the dye was a special bat-recipe that would seep into even the roots and stay until the remover was applied. It only needed touching up after three weeks – something both boys were glad for.

Megan parked the bioship, camouflaging it against the warehouse it was in. And from there, it was but a five minute walk to find the several police cars waiting. Robin had told them on the way that a select few of trusted police officers were aware that they weren't who they said they were – but they thought the team was a federal security operation instead. They'd been told (by Commissioner Gordon, no less,) that they were to treat these people exactly the same as who they said they were. So, as soon as the police saw them, they ran over to the teens and not-too-gently shoved them onto the ground. Megan was pushed down and subdued easily without an ounce of resistance; Emily (Artemis) flailed around a bit; Kal just glared at the police very well, (Robin made a mental note to comment on that later); Conner punched the officer half-heartedly but must've been facing a pretty strong guy, for the tell-tale thump of him hitting the ground was heard a moment later. And West kicked out but missed. Silva, however, was a different story. He scratched the police officer's face with his short nails, and struck out with some impressive-looking but probably quite basic martial arts moves. He took the first two officers down, scraped the next one's arm with his knife, leaving a shallow but bad-looking cut, and it took three more to force him onto the ground and put cuffs on his wrists.

"It's gotta look _real_," He hissed at a confused team, as he kicked out with his feet and knocked someone over. They were all aware that they could get out of this situation easily, and West knew that Silva could put up a pretty impressive fight even with his hands bound - he'd seen him do so in many missions. "But not _too_ real – we do want to get caught, after all." And with that, he sprung to his feet and launched an explosive roundhouse kick to the nearest police officer's head. The man went down instantly, and sure enough another two officers cuffed his ankles together, allowing only enough room for him to walk.

They were all bundled none-too-gently into the back of a police van. Silva had his face pressed into the hard metal wall of the vehicle, with West's shoes digging into his back and he was pretty sure the girls and Kal didn't have it much better.

"What the hell was _that_?" Emily spat out to Silva. "You could've seriously hurt that guy!"

The said teen quickly checked the van for bugs; there were none; before sneering back at her.

"I did." A collective intake of breath went up throughout the van.

"We don't hurt _civilians_, Ro-Silva," Kal pointed out, sounding angry. Wally looked at him like 'did you honestly just say that?' before turning back to his best pal.

"Look – it needed to be believable. Yes, some of those guys were aware that we were fakes – but we can't have them treating us differently. I needed to go with my story – Megan did that perfectly, as did Conner and West. I'm charged with armed assault and _manslaughter_, for god's sake. How believable would _that_ be if I just let myself be captured? Nobody expects a thief," He nodded to Megan, "to fight back, and Conner fought back with just the amount necessary to pass for his antisocial behaviour charges. West kicked out but missed – obviously a joyrider wouldn't be used to actually fighting. But Emily – you had charges of assault yet the resistance you put up was more like someone who'd never even fought before."

The team was shocked. They'd never heard their youngest member being so harsh on them, and they didn't like it one bit. Emily was about to protest when West raised a hand and spoke.

"Guys, I know this isn't what we usually do, or even let others do. But Gotham's Rob- _Silva_'s territory. And he knows how it works. Methods we use elsewhere… won't work here. Gotham has a different breed of criminals here – and Rob's used to doing whatever," Said teen shot him a glare, "whatever within reason to stop them. So, if a few police officers get a bit knocked around and that saves people from being recruited by supervillains then… I guess it works. And those police officers knew they were in for something unpleasant when they volunteered to do this." Nobody expected West to say that much, and he clearly felt a bit self-conscious because he blushed and looked down.

"And I'm sorry for snapping at you guys." Silva said, "But where we're going… you need to put out the right kind of impression – you need to make people scared of you. It's like a 'kill or be killed' except slightly less dramatic. Either you make people scared of you or you cower in fear in the corner. It's not a good experience either way." Both Emily and Conner heard the meaning in that last statement, and they were about to ask how he knew about it, when the van they were in jolted to a halt. The doors were opened, and everyone except Silva shut their eyes to stop the light from hurting them. The latter had sunglasses, so it didn't really affect him. They were hauled out of the van, although Silva snarled when the police officer tried to grab his shoulder and he climbed out under his own steam. However, the cuffs on his ankles limited his movement, so as he tried to jump out of the van he tripped. Grabbing the nearest thing, which happened to be another officer's arm, he pulled himself to his feet, swearing and spitting. The officer he grabbed noted his cuffed hands and feet before calling into his radio. The others knew he could've made the landing, and were impressed when they realised that he fell and grabbed an officer to put on a bit of a show, to give them a taster of his attitude. Two officers turned up and grabbed one of his shoulders each. The rest of the team decided to piss off their officers. Megan telekinetically lifted the radio from her officer's belt when his back was turned, and started hitting random buttons. When she called "Prepare the donuts" into it, the officer turned and was shocked to see his charge giggling into the radio. A crackly, static reply came back- "Do not comprehend, over," and the girl laughed even more. Artemis was pummelling against the body armour of the policeman holding her shoulder. Conner was attempting to spit on the shoes of the guy who held his cuffed hands, and Kal was trying to run off unsuccessfully.

They were frogmarched about 800 metres down the road, where they stopped outside a set of wrought iron gates. Immediately, the memories came rushing back to Silva and he flinched. The officers holding his shoulders didn't notice, (how come _he_ got two officers, and he's only thirteen-almost-fourteen? Wally thought jealously,) but both West and Emily did. Emily looked over at him questioningly – this definitely wasn't part of the 'I'm-Silva-and-I'm-so-tough-and-badass' charade. He shook his head and tried to pull himself together. As the officers tugged on his shoulders, trying to get him to speed up, he snarled at them. West shot him an understanding look, before the officer on the left of Silva entered a code into the keypad and the huge gates opened.

They were in.

**Woah! I wrote that chapter at literally Flashspeed! I hope you like it, and realise that loads of chapters in one go means not many others for a while! 1439 words excluding ANs at beginning and end, written in approximately *looks at watch* almost an hour.**

**-Review please, I want to know what I did right and what I can improve on, but flames will be reflected! **

**-Bye.**


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